ALLEN PARK — The Downriver League boys tennis season officially got underway on Tuesday with one dual meet seeing Southgate Anderson on the road to take on Allen Park.
It’s been a busy start to the early portion of the fall season for both teams.
Allen Park came in having won each of its first three dual meets, doing so by a combined score of 23-1. Anderson meanwhile prior to Tuesday last competed back on Aug 21, when they took first place in the annual Dearborn-based Muldowney/Snell Invitational.
By day’s end, it was a good first conference showing for the defending champion Titans, who left town with a 7-1 meet victory over the host Jags.
It’s the first dual meet win of the young fall season for Anderson, which prior to that Muldowney/Snell tournament dropped a trio of battles in a quad on Aug 20. All three came against traditional Oakland County powers, including Division 1 top-ranked Troy, D1 No. 9-ranked Troy Athens, and D2 top-ranked Birmingham Seaholm.
Tuesday also marked the third straight head-to-head win for the Titans over Allen Park going back to the start of the 2024 season. That stretch comes after the Jags had gone 5-0-1 in the all-time series from 2017-23.
The win for Anderson was a bit more tightly-contested than perhaps the final score would indicate as three of their seven flight wins required a third set. Two of those three saw them drop the opening set. A fourth match saw an opening set end in 7-6 fashion.
Ultimately, a team-wide sweep across the doubles’ side of the ledger helped secure the meet victory.
One of those three-set matches for Anderson came at No. 1 doubles, where the team of Peyton Johnson and Lewis Wuerker defeating Allen Park seniors Jackson Lore and Collin Ecie (6-1, 4-6, 10-5).
Another three-setter and one of the comeback variety for the Titans was their No. 4 doubles duo of Collin Godbout and Brenden Caywood rallying to defeat the Jags’ Breslin McMillan and Francesco Julian (4-6, 6-2, 10-7).
Senior Sam Lauth improved to 4-0 with a win in the No. 1 singles match for Allen Park at home vs Anderson on Sep 8, 2026. (ALEXANDER MULLER — MediaNews Group)
Elsewhere in the doubles matches, Anderson made quick work of their Allen Park counterparts. The No. 2 match saw Tyler Nusser and Lucas Moul cruise past Nathan Gwozdz and Gus Hufnagel (6-2, 6-0), while the No. 3 match ended with Luke Rohroff and Gabriel Wallace besting Amir Yako and Brendyn Brooks (7-6, 6-1).
Moul and Nusser went 14-5 together a season ago for Anderson as the team’s No. 3 doubles pairing, a mark that included a runner-up finish at the league meet. Johnson meanwhile also helped earn the Titans second-place in another flight at the 2025 league championships, doing so in the No. 4 doubles bracket.
In the singles’ portion of Tuesday’s meet, it was some familiar names coming through for the visitors.
Seniors Kingston Alford and Jackson Moul each walked away with wins at No. 3 and 4 singles, respectively. Alford did so in come-from-behind fashion over Reed Mihalik (2-6, 6-1, 10-3), while Moul made quick work of Alex Bacile (6-1, 6-0).
Both Alford and Moul were also league runner-up representatives for Anderson last season. The former did so as a No. 4 singles player, after competing in doubles his freshman and sophomore years. The latter had been part of the team’s top duo pairing each of his first three high school seasons.
The Titans’ en route to their league title last fall did claim two flight championships, one of which was courtesy of Evan Goddard. The sophomore improved to 5-4 on the young season with a sweep of Allen Park’s Lucas Welch (6-3, 6-2).
The lone flight win for the Jags on Tuesday happened over at No. 1 singles when senior Sam Lauth bested reigning conference champion and fellow classmate Jagger Meller (6-2, 6-2).
The win for Lauth improves him to 4-0 to begin the fall campaign with all of his match victories coming in straight sets. He also snapped what was three straight head-to-head losses vs Meller going back to the 2024 season.
Photo gallery of Southgate Anderson vs Allen Park in Downriver League boys tennis action
Meller a year ago was one of the more dominant players locally, turning in a 25-2 record by season’s end.
UP NEXT
Anderson (1-3, 1-0 DL) will continue the league portion of its schedule when it visits Lincoln Park on Thursday, Sep 10.
Tuesday meanwhile was the first of three meets in as many days for Allen Park (3-1, 0-1 DL), which will visit Garden City for a non-league dual meet on Wednesday, Sep 9 before returning home to host Gibraltar Carlson in a conference matchup on Sep 10.